The Casio small square watch is the smart ring I want most this year.

Casio's iconic square digital watches have stood the test of time, while its smart rings have received little public attention.

Photo | CASIO

But what if Casio stitches its most classic square watch and smart ring together? How would you respond to that?

The Casio's recently updated smart ring watch CRW-H001 is exactly such a product — It does not matter whether you wear it on the wrist or the finger, the key point is that it can actually display the time:

Photo | CASIO

The vast majority of smart rings are trying to hide their tech features, but the CRW-H001M-8 does the exact opposite.

It wants people even ten meters away to notice that you are wearing a digital watch on your finger:

Photo | CASIO

The CRW-H001 inherits the square LCD screen and wristwatch-style shell of Casio's previous generation ring watches CRW-001 and 001JR, with the body thickness controlled at about 6mm and a weight of 19 grams.

Its timing function is identical to that of Casio's most common DW series, supporting multiple time zones, stopwatch, calendar, and a basic white LED backlight:

Photo | StrapHabit

In terms of smart ring features, compared to the basic sports and health tracking functions of the previous generation, its biggest update is the built-in tiny motor that supports vibration alerts and heart rate monitoring.

Interestingly, this is also the first time for Casio's similar products to make their debut in the Chinese mainland market.

The official price of CRW-H001 is 1990 yuan, and reservations are now available on Casio's official website:

Photo | CASIO

From a hardware perspective, Casio's CRW series of ring watches form a rare three-in-one concept that integrates health management, daily accessory and timer.

This idea is essentially different from traditional smart rings.

The former wants to hide all functional attributes and present itself purely as a piece of jewelry, while the latter openly expands the functions of jewelry.

Liking it and wearing it are two different things

Although the smart ring track has been lukewarm in the Chinese market, Casio's CRW series ring watches have a group of enthusiasts overseas.

The paradox is that even among these product enthusiasts, opinions show a clear polarization between "liking to buy" and "liking to wear".

Photo | G-Central

For example, Digital Trends pointed out in its review of the previous CRW-001:

The fine brick pattern, strap indentations and metallic texture of the ring watch turn it from a pure toy into a collectible that will interest Casio fans.

However, the 16-gram, 6.2mm-thick body is still too large as a ring, and the experience of wearing it continuously is far less comfortable than imagined.

It is this "not practical but endearing" attribute that runs through the entire Casio ring watch product line. What people buy is not a more convenient timer, but more like a productized meme.

Foreign media Deployant's comment is more straightforward:

The CRW-001 only has a life-level waterproof rating, which means you have to take it off when washing your hands, and it can only be treated as an exquisite display piece.

Photo | TheVerge

This same problem has not been solved on the new CRW-H001, whose waterproof rating is still marked as "life waterproof", so taking the ring off and on frequently is almost inevitable.

In this light, Casio's ring watch can hardly be called a qualified ring, and we do not lack ordinary watches in daily life now.

All these experiential contradictions boil down to the fact that rings are far more "picky about wearers" than watches.

The new CRW-H001 comes in three fixed inner diameters: S, M and L. Without an adapter ring, it simply cannot fit if the size does not match:

Photo | Digital Trends

In addition, the CRW-H001 has increased in weight from 16 grams of the previous generation to 19 grams, while the smart ring Oura Ring 4 weighs only 3 to 5 grams.

For a watch, 3 grams is negligible, but for a ring, this difference may directly determine whether the CRW-H001 is monitoring the user's sleep, or the bedside table.

Do wearable devices have to be screen-free

Compared with the previous boom of the screen-free Whoop band, Casio's product idea of putting a screen on a ring seems very alternative.

Related reading: A fitness band that cannot even display the time charges 1000 yuan a year, and is even more popular than Apple?

Photo | TechRadar

Products like smart rings and AI pendants have faced a contradiction since their form was established: Should its essence be an accessory, or a smart electronic product?

The function school hopes to pack more sensors, algorithms and alerts into wearable devices; the accessory school believes that the device must first be pleasant enough for people to want to wear it, so that its functions can play a role —

The CRW-H001 is obviously more inclined to the latter, it sacrifices some lightness in exchange for a distinct personality that is almost impossible to misidentify.

Photo | TheVerge

But the choice between function and accessory is not as simple as a binary question:

No matter how accurate the device is, the data will be interrupted if you take it off before going to bed; no matter how beautiful the jewelry is, if it has no value beyond the novelty effect, it will eventually end up stored in a drawer.

The CRW-H001 may not be able to eliminate these problems, but through a willful "crossover", it packages health sensors into a hybrid of digital watch, ring and toy, and finds the intersection of the function school and the accessory school.

In this era of overflowing smart products, people increasingly need this kind of rebellious crossover product to reduce the ubiquitous anxiety brought by intelligence.

This article is from the WeChat official account "ifanr" (ID: ifanr), written by MA Fuyao, authorized by 36Kr for release.